Birthday Musings and Lots of Music
Although this posting is for June, I wrote it during May, the month of my birthday. Consequently, this posting has a birthday theme, with lots of music.
Besides my brother-in-law and daughter-in-law, I share my birthday month with Bob Dylan, who turned 80 on May 24th. Dylan provides a segue from my last two postings on the Mississippi River, since U.S. Highway 61 runs from Duluth, Minnesota, near Dylan’s birthplace, to New Orleans, Louisiana. Released in 1965, Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited” marked his shift from acoustic folk to electric rock, as is particularly evidenced in the album’s title track.
Some years ago, I began collecting snippets about my birth year, 1953. Subsequently, this effort was undermined by the internet, which returns a listing of events that transpired in any year that you list in your search engine. While an electronic search quickly returns the following 1953 events, this posting provides three facts related to each event that maybe you don’t know.
Mount Everest. On May 29, 1953, Sherpa Tenzig Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary, members of a British expedition, became the first two individuals “confirmed” to summit Mount Everest. Here are three additional facts. First, Everest’s summit measures 29,028 feet above sea level, but the base camp for expeditions is located 12,000 feet lower, at 17,000 feet. In the continental U.S., there are 73 peaks that measure 14,000 feet or higher, with the tallest being Mt. Whitney in California at 14,494 feet. Some years ago, I hiked, not climbed, to the top of Grays Peak, the 12th tallest of the 73 at 14,278 feet. I would have needed to climb almost 3,000 feet higher just to make it to Everest base camp. Second, Norgay and Hillary encountered a 40 foot rock face about 200 feet below the summit, potentially halting their ascent. However, they were able to find a crease in the rock that allowed passage to the summit. The rock face became known as the Hillary Step, but sadly, it was destroyed in a 2015 earthquake. Third, it took two days for news of the 1953 summit to reach London, which happened to be the day of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation!
There is no more fitting musical tribute to Sherpa Tenzig Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary than “Sitting on Top of the World.” First recorded by the Mississippi Sheiks in 1930, the song has been covered by numerous artists. I first became familiar with the song in 1968 when I purchased Cream’s “Wheels on Fire” album.
Crazylegs, the Movie. 1953 marked the release of the movie “Crazylegs,” about Elroy Hirsch who was played by, who else, Elroy Hirsch. Beginning in 1968, Hirsch became the athletic director for the University of Wisconsin, serving in that role for 18 years, which includes my first ten years living in Madison. Here are three additional facts about Hirsch. First, he played college football for Wisconsin in 1942 and Michigan in 1943, and I previously wondered how he came to play for two rival institutions. His transfer to the Wolverines was precipitated by his 1943 enlistment in the U.S. Marine Corps and his assignment to the Navy’s V-12 College Training Program. That program was housed at the University of Michigan. Second, Hirsch held a “front office” job with the Los Angeles Rams after playing for the team between 1949 and 1958. He became the team’s general manager in 1960, replacing Pete Rozelle who had been hired as the NFL’s first commissioner. Third, the Crazylegs Classic is a Springtime fun run, honoring Hirsch and benefiting the UW Athletic Department. It has attracted thousands of runners each year since 1982. I participated numerous times and always enjoyed witnessing the entire length of State Street filled with bobbing heads from the State Capitol to Bascom Hill and feeling the soft cushion of Camp Randall’s artificial turf as I approached the finished line five miles later. One year, I finished the run with a high five from Elroy who was greeting runners at the 50-yard line.
I’m fond of a number of songs with “run” in the title, which could pay homage to Hirsch and his unique running style: “Run Like Hell” by Pink Floyd, or “Runnin’ Down a Dream” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, or “Running on Empty” by Jackson Browne. But since this blog is about my life experiences, I can’t ignore that I moved from Shreveport to Madison in 1975. Shortly thereafter, I bought a new release by a guy named Bruce Springsteen. His third album was titled “Born to Run.”
Milwaukee Braves. In March, 1953, the owner of the Boston Braves moved his major league baseball team to Milwaukee. This was the first major league relocation since 1903, when the Baltimore Orioles moved to New York City, becoming the Highlanders initially and then the Yankees in 1913. The Braves relocated to Atlanta in 1966, and during their 13 seasons in Milwaukee, the Braves never had a losing season. Here are three additional facts about the Milwaukee Braves. First, the move to Milwaukee became attractive when Milwaukee County completed the construction of County Stadium. While other stadiums had been retrofitted with lighting, County Stadium was the first baseball stadium built with lights. Also, it was the first stadium built entirely with public funds (ugh). Second, before losing the 1958 World Series to Casey Stengel’s New York Yankees in seven games, the Milwaukee Braves won the 1957 World Series in seven games, beating the same New York Yankees. In the 1957 World Series, pitcher Lew Burdette won three games for the Braves, pitching a complete game in each of his outings! Third, the Milwaukee Braves may have played in the best baseball game that you’ve never heard of. On July 2, 1963, the Braves battled the San Francisco Giants at Candlestick Park, before Willie Mays ended the game with a solo home run in the bottom of the 16th inning. The final score was 1-0. The most amazing thing about the game was that for all 16 innings, neither team changed pitchers, Warren Spahn for the Braves and Juan Marichal for the Giants, nor catchers. All-Star Del Crandall was the catcher for the Braves that day, and he passed away on May 8 of this year at age 91.
Similar to my above musical tribute, there are a number of baseball themed songs floating in my subconscious, but as far as I’m concerned, none match John Fogarty’s 1984 hit “Centerfield.”
Three Other 1953 Events (sorry, I can’t help myself). First, U.S. Senator Russell Long began serving on the Senate Finance Committee. The son of Louisiana’s Huey Long, Russell became chair of the Committee in 1966 and remained chair until 1981. The Committee has jurisdiction over the Internal Revenue Code, and Long became known for the quip, ”Tax reform means, ‘Don’t tax you, and don’t tax me. Tax that fellow behind the tree.’” Second, Leonard “Smoky” Schmock opened Smoky’s Club in 1953 with his wife, Janet. When “Golf Digest” listed the ten best new courses in 1991, its description of the Robert Trent Jones designed University Ridge Golf Course in Madison concluded with a recommendation to stop at Smoky’s Club for a steak after your round of golf. Today, a 10-ounce filet costs about the same as your U-Ridge green fees, provided your tee time is on a Monday or Tuesday and you walk. Third, in a bit of pandemic serendipity, Jonas Salk announced his development of a vaccine for polio. Let’s hope that the Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are equally effective against Covid-19.
Lagniappe: Lloyd Price. Louisiana native and R&B great, Lloyd Price passed on May 3rd at age 88. He acquired the nickname Mr. Personality due to his “amiable presence” and his 1959 hit, “Personality.” His best known hit may be “Lawdy Miss Clawdy.” Recorded in 1952, it has been covered by over 40 artists, including Fats Domino, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Ike Turner, Conway Twitty, Carl Perkins, Paul McCartney, Travis Tritt, and James Booker. However, my favorite Price song is “Stagger Lee” about a gambling loss resulting in a shooting. According to Price’s L.A. Times obit, he was forced to change the song’s lyrics when he performed it on American Bandstand so that the song’s story had a “peaceful resolution.” Commenting on that rewrite some years later, Price said: “It didn’t make any sense at all. It was ridiculous.”